Cat Burglar
Location: San Clemente, California Date: March 25, 1993 Story For five months, Robert Morey Jr. lived in large house in a rural area in San Clemente, California. His backyard is all hills and not a lot of houses near him. While he was asleep in the pre-dawn hours of March 25th, 1993, something was heading towards his house through the backyard. He awoke to the sound of glass breaking and his burglar alarm going off. He got out of bed, grabbed a rifle from underneath, went downstairs to investigate the break in, and discovered the broken window in the living room. In the darkness, he went into the kitchen to call 911. It was dispatcher Wendy Anderson's first 911 call. "Since it was such a calm call, I wasn't nervous at all. It did not feel like a real emergency call at the time," she explained. Dispatch trainer Stephanie Oliver backed her up. Robert turned on the lights, heard a little growl, turned around, and screamed in horror when he saw that there was a bobcat in his house. "It scared the heck out of us both. The first thing that came to my mind was, 'They had a gun to his head,'" said Stephanie. Wendy asked Robert what was in his house and he screamed, "There's a bobcat in my house!" Wendy and Stephanie were surprised to learn that a bobcat was in his house. It was sitting on the kitchen counter growling and staring at him. He was scared and sweating thinking that it could attack him. Stephanie instructed Robert not to move. He held the bobcat at gunpoint. She also told him to shoot it if he wanted to, but when the police arrive, he has to put the gun down. She asked him how big it was and he said that it was as big as his two Siberian Huskies. He then realized that his dogs were the reason why it broke in the house. He asked Wendy if bobcats attack and she didn't know but asked him why it broke in. Stephanie called Animal Control. Robert was really scared and wanted to move. Stephanie was also picturing a mountain lion in his house and got worried that if he moved, it would kill him. Patrol officer Kevin O'Brien was the first officer to arrive. "I've worked in the law enforcement for eight years, and I never had this type of call, and I didn't know exactly how to handle it," said O'Brien. Lt. Bill Trudeau told O'Brien not to enter Robert's house until he or the Animal Control arrived. Then he arrived, and O'Brien told him that Robert was still on the phone with his gun in his hand, and the bobcat was still on the kitchen counter next to him. He saw the police outside his house and put the gun down, but the police were telling Stephanie to have him hold it longer, because they did not want to go into the house. If the bobcat chased him to the front door, he would have to shoot it, so he picked up the gun, hung up, and slowly walked to the front door with the gun and outside. He was thinking the bobcat was going to follow him, and when he got out, the police told him to close the door. Then he put the gun down. After a half hour of Robert's call, Orange County Animal Control Officer Larry Cyr got to the house. He said that bobcats don't normally attack people from behind because of their size, but if they got cornered they might attack. He went inside and turned on the kitchen light. The bobcat was still there and growling at him. The growling made him very scared while he put a noose around its neck and escorted it from the kitchen. Cyr had trouble getting the bobcat into the truck while Robert and the police were watching, "People tell me, 'Oh, bobcats are docile, they won't hurt you.' I'm like, 'You didn't see this bobcat fight the animal control guy when he was leaving, this bobcat would have killed me,'" said Robert. Cyr drove the bobcat up into the woods and set it free. "I think the biggest lesson about wildlife that we've learned is just more less to leave them alone. We can live with the wildlife, but when you interfere trying to be helpful or hurtful either way then you cause large problems," said Cyr. Robert says that even though he likes living in a very quiet area, he has dealt with bobcats, mountain lions and other wild animals in his backyard and around his house and is hoping that none of them break into his house again. Trudeau said that he's happy for the bobcat to be back home in the woods and it would tell its friends about being in Robert's house. Category:1993 Category:California Category:Animal Intruders Category:Humorous Rescues